


The King of Laughter

by Shikistories



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Abuse, Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Death Threats, Dominance, F/M, Knifeplay, Obedience, Pain, Please Don't Hate Me, Punishment, Smut, Submission, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 04:00:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15210461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shikistories/pseuds/Shikistories
Summary: You've learned about Jerome Valeska thanks to the new, files and to what Jim Gordon used to tell you about him.You often ended up in the GCPD jail, since you were considered involved in crimes that you didn't commit.You were interested in Jerome, at the beginning it was just a mere psychological interests, but then you decided to visit him in Arkham to find out more.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, I'll try to follow the events of Gotham as much as possible, but I will probably change something c:
> 
> I hope you will like it, enjoy :D

The cloudy evening was starting to fade as night took over, it had been raining the whole day and you hoped that the following day the sun would finally shine. 

You entered the GCPD, thinking that there was a possibility you would go unnoticed. Suddenly a tall man forcefully grabbed your arm "where the hell do you think you're going?!"

You withdrew your arm from his grip and ran towards the central office, you heard Alvarez yelling at you while the other officers ignored it, keeping up with their work.

You knocked at the commissioner's office and opened the door without waiting for an answer " I need a free pass for Arkham"

The commissioner looked at your, clicking his lips together and sighing "you again? Go home before you get hurt, it's a mess out there" you scoffed in response and sat on the chair across the desk the chief was checking files on 

"please! Just this time!"

"listen, y/n.." he set aside the documents and poured in his empty glass an alcoholic beverage "you're charged with crimes-"

"that I didn't commit!" you almost shouted "you know how Gotham is! You walk around, in a shop, down a street, even on your way home and-"

"yes, I know, but this is not the point." he interrupted you like you previously did with him "then what's the point?" you leaned back on the chair "the point is.. That I let you go by my own choice. At Arkham they want documents to let you in and if you're not clea-"

"but you are the commissioner, you can help me get in!"

"stop interrupting me" his voice was louder now, he sipped his drink before putting down the half empty glass ".. Sorry" you sincerely apologized

"there are other problems about Arkham" Jim Gordon started piling up the papers on his desk "inside that asylum there are Cobblepot, Crane, Tetch and Valeska too.." his tone went down saying the last name, he crossed his arms placing his elbows on the wooden bureau.

His severe glance pierced right through you as you started uncomfortably fidgeting, adjusting in your seat

" what? "

" it's for Valeska, isn't it? "

"I don't know what you're talking about." you shrugged "why do you want to see him? Is it because of what I told you?"

You quickly got up, turned around an put a hand on the door handle "I'll find another way."

"wait.." you stopped "I'd rather give you the permission instead of having to put you in jail because you sneaked in.." Jim handed you three signed papers, you turned on your heels and checked them ".. Thank you, Commissioner." you smiled "this means a lot"

"yeah well, don't put yourself in danger. Arkham is certainly not known for its security measures."

"I'll be careful"

"and whatever happens, don't enter Jerome's cell, am I clear?" you could hear him, but you were already literally running out of the precinct and heading towards the street where you paid a taxi to go to the asylum.

 

Arkham's gate stood straight, pointing at the black, cloudy sky. It looked old, although you knew it wasn't as old as it looked.

There were two guards, one of them yawned seeing you there "who are you? Visits' time is almost over." you looked at your clock, seeing it was 7 pm, the asylum closes to the public at 8 pm

"there's still time and I have a permission signed by the commissioner himself" you showed them a proud smile "are you underage?" the other guard asked

"no, I'm 20" he let out a noise of surprise and gestured the other one to call the guards inside od Arkham, they let you in.

The old building looked like a decaying gothic palace, it was suggestive and the lights inside highlighted its obscure atmosphere.

You stepped in from the front door, you could hear screams and different types of noises coming from all around you, although you weren't near the cells yet. 

Your feet stopped before a checkpoint "good evening, can I see your documents?" a chubby woman politely asked without even looking at you, you placed your papers on her desk, taking them out of your bag.

She told you that she had to keep them until you got out and you mumbled a positive response. 

" who is it that you want to visit?" she looked at you for the first time "uhm.. I.. I study psychology, I'm here to see some of your most dangerous patients" you lied

The guard suspiciously gazed at you and scanned you from head to toe "go ahead." she spit out at last. You thanked her and went on your way.

The corridors extended like a maze, it looked like you were walking down the Tartarus. You could notice just a few guards at the end of every corridor, it would probably mean that the place is unsafe, but it was the best situation ever in this case.

You stopped at a cell without bars, it was kept closed by an iron door, you could barely read the name of the prisoner "Jonathan Crane" you mumbled and scoffed as the thought of being so close to an interesting, mentally ill criminal made your body tremble in excitement

"can I.. See Mr Crane?" you addressed the officer that guarded that side of the corridor "no, he's a dangerous criminal"

"but I'm here for psychological research! And it's visit time. It's my right to-" he grunted "fine! Fine"

He got closer to you and opened the peephole, when you bended towards it, the man suddenly shut it.

"hey!" you complained, he chuckled and came back to his previous position. What an asshole.

You resumed your research, you were there for Jerome Valeska after all, not for the others. 

You were involuntary able to hear complaints from one of the ironed cells and decided to take a peep. There were no guards around and you couldn't recognize the voice since it was muffled by the door.

The plate on it was unreadable so, after checking your surroundings to ensure your safety, you opened the peephole out of curiosity and saw a man walking around and tossing objects from one side to the other of the room, with great anger.

Then he noticed you "oh god! Help me! Take the keys, the guard here is always sleeping!"

"uh.. You're.." your eyes sparkled with interest "Oswald Cobblepot" you cautiously stated 

"yes! Exactly! Yes! Now take the keys!" he looked agitated, you could also notice a large bruise on his face "did they beat you?"

"the ginger's sick thugs, yes, now do what I said!" you smirked, in a normal situation, out of the asylum, you would probably show more respect since you, and all of Gotham, knew what he was capable of; but seeing him, The Penguin, locked in a filthy, little cell made you feel stronger and braver.

You weren't scared, how could you be? He couldn't do anything. He was alone, inside and outside. 

The clock signaled that only twenty minutes were left before 8 pm "I'm sorry Oswald, I gotta go." you hurriedly to the next section, the Inmate's body stiffened and you heard hits on the door

"you fucking bitch, whore! When I get out of here I'll kill you! I'll cut you into pieces, I'll break every bone you have in that weak body of yours!" you giggled in response, just the screams of a hopeless, powerless and deluded ex boss. His threats didn't even make you flinch.

You recalled what Jim told you once:  _only idiots aren't afraid._

The situation was different, of course, you were having an argument with an armed thug who threatened an old woman at that time and if Jim didn't intervene, you would have died. 

_But there's no need to be scared right now._ You comforted yourself. 

Finally, a larger, stronger door appeared before you, it was at the end of the last corridor, there were also two people guarding it.

"I'm sorry.. I am here to speak with Mr. Valeska for.. A psychological project." the guard on the left scratched his neck and knocked on the door "what is It, Jimmy?"

Even though the voice was filtered by the metal, a shiver ran down your spine and you couldn't say whether it was caused by fear or excitement

"a girl here wants to see you"

"ohh, a girl? That's weird, but yes, yes, let her in."

You saw the officer on the tight starting to remove chains and unlock the locks, your voice trembled "Uhm.. Don't you.. Don't you have to handcuff him or something like that?"

The man stopped, placing his mouth closer to the door "do you want to be handcuffed?"

"nah it's fine. What could ever happen?" you heard a mischievous giggle coming from the other side and this time you were certain that your body shivered because you  _were afraid._


	2. The Encounter

The wind was howling from the outside, but it was covered by the loud sound of chains being removed by the iron door you were currently facing with a troubled expression on your face.

You didn't understand why those guards were obeying him, was it part of some kind of plan?

There was something, an instinct that told you to go away, to escape that madhouse. Useless to say that you didn't listen to it, not one bit, since your only desire was to meet the man who brought the most controversial kind of chaos to the city of Gotham.

The man who you've been interested in since his first appearance. 

You couldn't withdraw. Not at this point. 

It was no different from a normal day at Gotham after all, where you had to risk your life in order to have one.

The door slightly opened and you went in with shaking legs. The cell was bigger than that of the others, you couldn't stop your heart from almost beating out of your chest.

Anxiety was too much to handle, but you had to. You swallowed hard. 

"you look nervous sweetie" you saw Jerome standing next to a table with a the palm of his right hand placed on it.

Like an animal, you were sure he could sense your fear that appeared from nowhere and took over your senses

 _What am I doing in this cell? Jim told me not to come in here for my safety.. But.. I .._ Your thoughts were confused and unclear. 

He moved a chair from under the table, gesturing you to sit down, which you did without saying a word 

He disappeared behind your back and your fingers trembled even more until you felt his gloved hands on your shoulders and his breath grazing your left ear and cheek. 

Your whole body stopped, you were paralyzed "so.." you carefully listened to him ".. I'm getting bored here, are you going to speak or do I have to use you for something else?" 

You had to admit it, you've never been so scared in your whole life. That's one of the powers of this incredible madman standing behind your back "I.." you stuttered "I've read a lot about you.. From.." you swallowed "from the first time I saw you on the news, I've been interested in you.." 

Your words were slow, although you didn't want to annoy or bore him, you didn't know how to calm yourself either

You felt his hands sliding up the sides of your neck before cupping your cheeks between them, the thumbs were pressed on the corners of your mouth 

You couldn't stop tears from wetting your eyes, but you didn't want to cry. Not in front of him. 

"you should.. Smile more" his fingers pressed and pulled the corners up a bit, then he left you after a sigh and sat down on the chair across the table, he moved his feet on it with a thud and crossed his arms

You were finally able to examine his features: the white shirt and the muscles beneath it, the scars on his face, his lips, his hair, his gloved fingers.. 

Your mouth let him understand that you were about to say something, but he was distracting you by simply sitting there. 

Jerome suddenly moved from his position, letting his feet drop to the floor once again and slamming the palms of his hands and his forearms on the thin surface of the table, his action startled you. 

He smirked and let out a low chuckle "were you staring at me?" 

"I.." you inhaled deeply, gathering a bit of courage "yes. I find your appearance very.. Appealing" 

Your choice was that of letting out whatever came to your mind since your neurons weren't working as well as you thought they would 

"appealing? Girls used a lot of adjectives to describe me, but _appealing_  never popped up among them" you blushed noticing that his eyes were locked into yours, you couldn't stand his gaze and decided to pretend you were examining the room 

"I wanted to ask you.. What is it that drives you? What do you want form the city?" 

He scoffed "ugh, the same, old Jim Gordon type of questions. We both know that's not what you really want to ask.. " he looked away before throwing at you what you would define a dangerous stare, you heard a knock on the door

"ten minutes before closure!" a guard said "thank you-" Jerome stopped "what was this guy's name?" he whispered at you "ah yes. Thank you Jimmy" he repeated 

"what's your name?" he decided to ask, a million of thoughts about fake names popped up in your head, but your tongue moved on its own, telling him your true name.

He apparently didn't even remember the guard's name after all,  being honest wasn't that dangerous. 

There was a part of you who desperately wanted to help him, to do something for him, to get close to him and this side was starting to influence your brain processes. 

"Mhh" he mumbled "I see. I'll remember that when I get out of here" the smile that was forming on your face faded "why.. Why would you?" 

"to bring you with me, isn't it obvious? All the girls I know are crazy or stupid and they're absolutely no fun. You look like a sane girl though.." you watched him slowly getting up and walking to your side 

"you should know that you're the first one who came here just to visit me without being a police officer." he caressed your jawline with a finger once before pressing that same finger under your chin, forcing you to look up at him

"you also said that you're interested in me and that's quite fascinating, I can't let you escape my.." his smirk transformed into a malicious smile ".. Grip" 

Another knock on the door "time's out!" 

Jerome left you and dropped like a corpse on his bed, pretending to be a dead man with a grin on his face. You barely got up from your chair and, going out, you could hear a "see you" that made you wince.

Nobody escorted you to the exit, you were just supposed to go there. During your little trip to the entrance, you saw a man moving Oswald from his cell to what looked like the interview room, you paid enough attention not to let him spot you and then fled. 

 

Your apartment was a mess, like always, chaos flowing through it as you threw your bag on the already occupied armchair. 

You looked at your reflection on the mirror in the bathroom and noticed that your cheeks and neck were red, your eyes were still wet. No doubt he noticed. 

You dropped on the bed and fell asleep without even eating. 

The following day, during the morning, you headed to the GCPD just to let Gordon know that you were fine. 

Your hopes for a day with a shining sun disappeared at the sight of the same old cloudy sky but, at least, it wasn't raining. 

At your arrival you saw Gordon talking to some of the officers in the main room, he noticed you wearing a concerned expression

"y/n" he started "what the hell happened there?" 

"what? Nothing. I met Valeska and wanted to  tell you that I'm fine" 

"they escaped" 

"who?" 

"Valeska, Tetch, Crane and Cobblepot along with the other inmates." after the first sentence he dragged you to the empty interrogation room "the hell did you do down there?!" 

"I didn't do anything! I swear!"  he gestured you to sit, but you didn't "look, there are witnesses who can confirm that.." 

"the guards are dead, there are no witnesses" 

"oh.." you gulped "you are the last person who left the asylum alive." he sounded preoccupied, the commissioner probably suspected your involvement in the criminals' escape.

It was always like that, you had a talent to unconsciously walk into troubles. 

"I simply went in, visited Valeska and got out" 

He sighed "did you see anything strange?" 

"uhm.. I saw Oswald Cobblepot while he was being moved to the interview room-" you swallowed hard and widened your eyes 

"Oswald.. Cobblepot.." you muttered under your breath, your throat closed "what is it?" Gordon's forehead corrugated in confusion "I.. I told him I was not going to free him and he promised me he would kill me!" 

Gordon slid the palm of his hand on his face, grunting, then returned to look at you "alright. You'd better stay here, I'll lock the door and will check on you again later." he put the hand on the doorknob

"I warn you. Don't. Go. Anywhere." you watched him get out and heard a locking sound. 

You scoffed "so now I'm locked here. What a great idea." you sat on the table. 

"he didn't even ask me if Jerome said something.. Ugh.." you sighed "maybe he had other things to do.." 

 

You looked at your clock, it was almost noon and you were starving. The other door of the interrogation room wasn't locked, so you went through that one, it led you to the autopsy lab. 

You didn't see any way out, so you broke a window and sneaked through it, hoping nobody heard. 

Your instinct was against these kind of actions, since you probably would be safer at the GCPD, but there was nothing wrong in grabbing something to eat and coming back later. 

They were probably all fantasies after all, Oswald wouldn't even come to you just to get a simple, useless revenge.

You walked a few blocks, all the shops were closed and you ended up near a little restaurant, bar, or whatever, that looked open, you knocked on the door and went in

"hello? Is anyone here?"

"oh welcome young lady" a voice arrived from your left and you looked that way.

A man was sitting at a table with three soups on it, all different from each other. Unexpectedly, a familiar ginger man appeared from under the table keeping a gun pointed at the other man

"good morning sweetie! What a coincidence, it must be fate" you blinked and let your mouth fall open "J-Jerome Valeska?" you stuttered "should I.. Should I go out?" you asked, unsure of what your doom will be. 

"No, it's not necessary, come here with me, I'm just having a nice talk with my uncle" he giggled, patting the seat next to him.


	3. The Legion of Horribles

You swallowed hard and looked at the uncle, who slightly shook his head, Jerome noticed "uncle, that's not cool" his tone was serious for the first time, then came back to the mocking and cheerful one

"the GCPD is looking for me.. I should go.."

"the GCPD is looking for me too, don't worry about those clowns" you inhaled before placing your hand on the door handle.

You hesitated.

You could get killed in there but you.. Hesitated. 

Unexpected noises and whimpers made you turn your head towards Jerome and his uncle, but this time you saw a large, muscular black man restraining the criminal

The uncle put a soup into the microwave "wait!" you got closer to the counter "what the hell are you doing?!"

Zachary, the uncle, took the soup from the microwave after a few minutes "don't you dare get out, we'll deal with you later" the large enforcer nodded, confirming what his partner said

You couldn't hear what the little reunited family was muttering about, until you got close enough to see the boiling soup being poured onto Jerome's face.

At that moment, you grabbed a broomstick and hit Zachary in the back with all the strength you had, he dropped his hideous boiling food and focused on you "you little bitch, come here!" you could hear Jerome laughing his lungs out while Zachary put his hands on your throat, trying to strangle you.

You started to lose consciousness when something happened and you found yourself on the ground, coughing and grasping for air.

The scenario changed quite a lot: the famous Bruce Wayne was fighting, losing, against the large thug while Jerome was keeping his uncle against the counter, you saw him grabbing the bleach and focused on what he was doing as you got closer 

When he noticed your presence, he stopped for a moment "oh y/n, you're still alive? That's nice, very nice."

"help..help me! Don't, Jerome, don't do it don't!" after a few seconds, he snapped, telling his nephew things you absolutely didn't know anything about, a school perhaps. What the hell was going on?

Jerome shot Zachary before your very eyes, you were staring at him though, not at the corpse, the criminal grinned.

He turned around to Bruce with his revolver in hand, saying that it would be funnier if the large man killed Bruce, he was laughing again. 

Laughing so much, seeing what was happening. Laughing. Bruce saved him, you guessed, so why couldn't he simply save him back?  They would be even.

You tried to understand and reached the conclusion that there was nothing to understand. He was chaos, Unpredictable chaos, fascinating chaos.

You stood next to him and spoke "Jerome.. I'm sorry to disturb you, but.. Can't you save him?" you were probably going out of your mind.

He didn't have morals, he was a black canvas, while you had some. Not really morals perhaps, but at least principles. Gratitude was one of those.

Jerome put the gun in your hand "save him then" he crossed his arms and looked at you "what?"

"oh dear, I don't think you're deaf.. Or are you?"

You never killed anyone and, even though someone who saved the person you cared about was in danger, you didn't have the courage to do it. 

Luckily, a girl showed up, she helped Bruce get out of the dangerous situation. The four of you were stalled now as Selina was about to shoot Jerome. 

He grinned and whispered in your ear "I'm going to flee from here. You have to come with me. Open the door."

Bruce prevented Selina from shooting, when you opened the door, you were pushed outside right after, almost falling to the ground. Jerome then grabbed you by the arm and the two of you fled.

You got into a van where someone hit you in the head, making you faint. 

 

A rattling sound woke you up in what looked like a basement, you were on a striped mattress. You noticed that you weren't tied up and could go around freely.

Your legs weren't stable, you managed to stand up nonetheless. It was dark but you could hear a breath that emitted a noise, like it was filtered by a tissue or a mask. 

"Welcome to our hideout." the same husky voice muttered "w-who's there?" you almost jumped at the sensation of a clothed hand on your shoulder, you closed your eyes. 

"I know you. You came to the asylum, you asked to see me, didn't you?" 

"y-yes.." you couldn't help but stutter. 

Your cocky attitude of when you were at Arkham was gone. You had acted like a tourist observing, mocking, disrespecting the caged animals; lions, tigers, snakes, every kind of predator.

And now that those carnivores were free, you were the one who felt in a cage, although the cage was nothing but your limbs, flesh and blood, you were born in a cage. This was the difference between you and them. 

This was why they were destined to win. 

"I'm sorry.. I just wanted to find out more about your condition.." you fidgeted "my condition?" 

"mental condition" you bit your tongue for saying that twice, you felt his grip on your shoulder tightening until it hurt,  you realised he had needles on his fingers as they tapped on your skin. 

Then he removed his hand from you "It's a pity I can't use my toxin on you, you would be the perfect subject.." he looked like he stopped talking to think "just a bit would do" 

The scarecrow was now facing you with his arm extended towards your face "Crane!" someone yelled "put that arm down, you don't want the Madman to get angry, do you?" 

The lights were switched on and you could now clearly see Jervis standing beside the masked Crane. 

"he isn't even here anyway." Crane commented "where is he? " you asked on an impulse "Not. Here." Jervis specified with a fussy tone. 

"what did he say about tonight?" Crane questioned "tonight? Oh well.. It's better not to talk here with her" 

"I'm referring to her. Does she have to come with us?" 

"uh, yes, I guess so" 

"ask him" 

"Crane. It's simple logic. He wants her with him or he would have already killed her." Crane snorted and headed towards the stairs

"sit down please" Jervis demanded, you sat on the mattress once again "so..have you ever heard of my sister Alice?" 

"Actually.. I did. I read about your case" 

"oh did you? how?" he frowned 

"I.. Uhm.. Used to sneak into the GCPD to read files on cases like yours, Jerome's, Crane's and so on. I'm.. Very interested in you." 

"oh that's curious. Quite curious.. But now, do tell me. How is it possible that the mass murderer didn't kill you?" 

You told him about Arkham and your encounters with Jerome. The mad hatter wasn't that bad, you talked to him for a hour, maybe two, until a thug called you. 

"go with him" he told you in a polite voice. 

You didn't ask anything and followed the thug who led you upstairs and to a large room with a table in the center of it.

You looked around and opened your mouth to ask about what was going on to the man who accompanied you, but he was already gone.

Right after you heard footsteps and an unexplainable tremble whacked your limbs. The penguin appeared in the doorway and gazed at you.

Not knowing what to do and hoping he wouldn't recognize you, you chose to stay silent and bow to him. 

There he was. The other no more caged predator that you had mocked at Arkham. You regretted that, the disrespect you showed had been enormous, leaving you disarmed against the upcoming menace. 

He smirked "you look like an educated young woman, nice to meet you. You can sit down on the couch in the other room if you want, our guests are arriving in a few minutes" his voice was sharp yet pleasurable, not threatening at all

He noticed your silence "are you able to speak or are all of the young people in Gotham voiceless?" rudeness started to show up

You decided to take your chances "nice to meet you too, sir.." the camouflage of your voice didn't work as hoped.

He changed expression, from a surprised to an angry one "you!" he drew a gun from his back pocket and pointed it at you after holding you against the wall by the collar, his body pressed against yours, your neck was still hurting from the encounter with Zachary too. 

You could taste the gun's metal since its barrel was in your mouth brushing against your tongue, you closed your eyes

"oh, come now" a familiar voice resonated in the room "scared of a woman, Oswald?" Jerome was wearing an elegant suit, but you had no time to notice it at first

"I'm not afraid of a whore, Valeska, she left me in there, at Arkham!"

"you're here right now though, aren't you?"

Oswald exhaled and removed the gun from your mouth, pointing it at your throat "I'll be happy to kill you.. later." his threat flowed into your ears, making you gulp.

The gun slowly moved from its position and went back to the pocket "I'm sorry, Mr Cobblepot.. I didn't want to disrespect you.. I was stupid, I'm sorry"

"I won't buy your miserable excuses" the penguin bluntly cut you off, you sighed as he left the room.

Jerome came closer to you "go to the kitchen"

"w-wait.." you wanted to ask him a lot of things, but there wasn't much time "why did you bring me with you?"

"take a guess" he giggled before harshly pushing you towards the kitchen "stay there" he demanded before closing the door.

It was weird. Penguin showed more concern for your well-being than Jerome, you noticed that he suggested you to go to the living room, while the laughing man ordered you to go to the kitchen. It didn't matter though, you ruined the possibility of a friendship with Oswald anyway. 

Inside the room there were some of the inmates wearing servants suits, they probably had to serve food to the guests.

You examined the view from a half open window, you came to the conclusion that you probably were at the Falcone Mansion.

Aside form the chattering in the other room, you heard some names like 'Legion of horribles' or something similar. 

The brunch didn't last much, perhaps because you used most of the time to think about why Jerome kept you there. The conclusion was.. To use you. He used everyone like objects, tricking them.

He was doing that to you too, the difference was that you were aware of it.


	4. Brothers

You pushed your ear against the door, you could hear the people leaving. Someone opened it and you somehow managed to prevent yourself from falling

"were you eavesdropping?" you saw a hand coming towards your head, you expected Jerome to hit you, he patted your cheek a few times instead "I sent you to the kitchen so that you couldn't hear what we were saying, didn't you understand that?" the criminal clicked his tongue and chuckled

His hand and figure retreated from their threatening position, but when you thought you were safe, a strong backhand made you fall to the ground, you felt your mouth watering and you spit on the floor on instinct, you had blood in your mouth and realised just then that you were crying. 

After the slap, Jerome headed to the living room, crossing ways with Oswald who took a glimpse of you still processing what had just happened

"if you're already tired of her, I'd be more than glad to lay my hands on her throat" you felt him inhaling nervously 

"let her be, penguin on ice, she'll probably die today anyway" you watched him going away and Oswald come closer, he bended over you "you get what you deserve" he said with disdain before disappearing behind you. 

Your hands were shaking and you barely got up leaning towards the doorframe. You didn't have time to think about what Jerome said about you dying, you had to take care of your current condition. 

You took a towel, put some ice found in the fridge in it, and carefully placed it on your cheek with a wince of pain 

The ice was quite resistant, so you could use it for some time. You wondered if Jerome slapped or punched you, you weren't sure anymore since it hurt a lot. 

"uh, that must hurt" a man wearing green leaned against the edge of the table next to you, you let out a small smile "hello, Jervis"

"let me guess, It was our _loved_ leader who did it" 

"exactly, ouch!" you winced as you spoke "he thought I was eavesdropping..but I wasn't. I was just trying to understand if I could exit the kitchen or not. And then he.. Slapped or punched me, whatever..."

"he's unpredictable. That's why he has more chances than all of us to take over Gotham" 

"is it his goal?" 

"not exactly. He said he wants to  _paint the town crazy_ " he giggled "oh. I see. And where is he going today?" 

"oh.. You'll find out soon" he put a finger on his lips and cheerfully shushed you before going away. 

You sighed loudly, the ice melted and you dropped the towel on the table along with your elbows. Your face was now buried in the protective prison of your fingers, you started sobbing, desperately crying. 

 _I should have listened to Gordon_ you thought  _I shouldn't have followed Jerome.._

Maybe, just maybe, it was what you had to do. 

Maybe, just maybe, you had to help those criminals and die like that. 

You've always been in the middle: not a law woman, nor a criminal, just a person who lived out of what she could find. You've never known how to get out of that oppressing life made of restraints, and maybe, but always just maybe, this was the best way to do it.

The ginger's voice came from the hallway "girl! Come here" you wiped off your tears and went to Jerome, he was wearing a white jacket, elegant, he looked ready for a party except for the rifle he held in hand

"where are we going?" 

"to a fabulous, marvelous party hosted by the Wayne Enterprises" he grinned. 

It wasn't hard to understand what he meant, however, he didn't even give you a gun. 

 

Following Jerome inside the tall building, you entered the elevator. There was a black woman in it with whom your kidnapper, if he can be called like that, was trying to have a conversation, obviously failing. 

When the woman looked at you with an expression that let you intend the word 'help', you couldn't do anything but give her a reassuring smile that didn't help at all. 

As Jerome walked straight to the receptionist, you analyzed your surroundings. A luxurious place, no wonder it belonged to Wayne. 

When your eyes gazed back to Jerome, all you saw was the barrel of his rifle pointed to your head from a short distance, your body stiffened and you gulped, then he resumed his walking towards the stairs, chuckling "I was joking, pup" 

Your face came back to its normal colour and you caught up with him, trying to calm down once again. You should get used to it. 

You two ended up in a room surrounded by glass where there probably was a meeting, Jerome told you to wait outside and so you did, but you kept observing him. 

His destroying works, threatening, shooting people without even a drop of sweat on his once ripped off face. 

He was damaged, deranged, but you felt something for him. Something mixed with a lot of other emotions, though what you were able to detect were positive emotions. 

The killer noticed you observing him and just him in awe before exiting the room in a hurry 

"drop your gun! GCPD!" You saw some agents entering the building and pointing their guns at you and Jerome, without even realising it, you ended up with your back pressed by his body, his left forearm applying pressure on your throat and the weapon pointed at your cheek, forcefully touching it. 

He didn't care if he hurt you, he didn't care at all because to him  _people were nothing_

"y/n?!" Gordon frowned "Commissioner! I'm sorry! I didn't-" Jerome cut off your air tightening his grip "shush" he whispered in your ear "stop right there or I'll kill her, if you haven't figured that out yet." 

He cautiously moved to the side and finally managed to escape with you thanks to another elevator. His roughness was probably something inborn, he literally threw you in the back of the car and started driving. 

You didn't understand what was happening, let alone where he was going. 

After a few minutes you arrived at a grey building standing among all the others, Jerome didn't say a word to you, you just decided to follow him up the stairs. 

In a flat you met a woman with blonde hair, Jerome was facing her with a knife in hand, but she was able to knock him down somehow. 

You stood there, looking at the fainted figure of Jerome "J-Jerome?!" you almost panicked as the woman came towards you "wait, wait! I'm not here to engage in a fight with you! I don't even know how to fight? Can you believe it?" you nervously giggled, while taking steps back 

"are you one of his companions?" 

"no-well.. Yes. I don't know? He keeps dragging me around, I found myself in a basement, I was previously at a diner, I don't know!" tears went down your cheeks, then you inhaled deeply to calm you down

"I'll come with you.. No need to put me in a cage.. I don't even know what's going on anymore.." your voice showed disillusionment. 

She hit you in the head anyway. 

 

You were woken up by the harshness of the ground along with someone's voice that bounced against the four walls, forming an echo.

" where.. "you asked while sitting straight and leaning your back against the wall. The room was small, grey, made out of concrete and nails.

You noticed Jerome exercising, you guessed, you really had no clue about what he was doing.. His jacket was on the ground and he was laying on it.

Hearing your voice he got up "I thought you were dead, I wouldn't have liked to stay in a cell with a corpse, the smell is.. Ew" he winced and held his nose.

You forced a smile, unexpectedly he grabbed you by the sleeve of your shirt and then gave you a push against the camera, making you whimper in pain as you were hit by the concrete. 

Then he moved you from there and went to talk to the camera with a low and threatening tone "oh brother.. You really are so heartless to leave her" he pointed at you "with me? I thought you were the moral, the kind the fair one.. I was probably wrong" Jerome laughed.

As you expected, he was using you. This time to get out of that awful, closed room. He stared at you with no expression for a few minutes before grinning

"come here" he ordered, you did as he said. He took the knife from his pocked and let the back of its sharp blade slide from your cheek to your collarbones, you swallowed hard "are you going to kill me?"

He chuckled "don't be so serious, sweetie. Killing someone is the most intimate action one can do, didn't you know it? It's like I had sex with hundred of men." he thought about it looking around, then coming back at you "it's probably not the best way to see it though" his laughter entered your ears, your throat and your lungs.

You smirked "can I do something first?" your expression didn't hide a veil of sadness, he slightly tilted his head on the side before straightening up "sure sure. Please do." he said while taking a step back from you

You stepped towards him instead, your lips pressed on his while you kept your hands on his chest, the kiss was brief, but you put all of your emotions towards him in it. 

When you were to pull away you realised you couldn't. His right hand was holding your neck while the other one was keeping your body as pressed to his as possible from your back.

It was the first time you were so close to him and even though you knew he wanted just to make time pass as quick as possible and to convince his presumed brother, you couldn't help but love that moment.

His tongue entered your mouth, making you whimper for the surprise, your tongues were now playing with each other and it went on for a while until you felt a strong pain from your throat. 

His hand was using a good half of his strength to choke you, however, he forced you to maintain the kiss, letting out a low chuckle from his chest and shifting his stare for a moment to the camera.

 

In the meantime, Harvey and Gordon arrived at Jeremiah's hideout too. They were welcomed by the owner after being startled by his appearance.

They easily found out that he was keeping Jerome in a room of his building, they watched for a while the scene that the camera was recording

"what the hell.. That's y/n" Jim looked at the video in disbelief "what the fuck, you're nuts, she could die there! You left a normal girl with your crazy-ass brother?!" Harvey snapped

"I.. I know, I'm sorry. But I didn't know what to do! She could have been faking her innocence!"

"bring us to them" Gordon ordered "now"

"uhm..Jim?" Harvey caught the commissioner's attention "what?" Jeremiah came closer too

"are they kissing?" the twin brother asked with curiosity and relief.

They heard a chuckle and noticed what was happening "no no that's a fucking choke hold! Let's get a move on!"

The two policemen followed Jeremiah inside the maze he built underground. 


	5. Graveyard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not the end >;}

You couldn't breathe, when he finally parted the kiss you had a chance to take some air into your lungs. However, your moment of peace didn't last long.

You could only inhale as much air as you needed to barely stay alive, you could feel his knife slicing your skin from the end of your neck to the shoulder, you closed your fists on Jerome's shirt, he laughed observing you trying to endure the pain in the best way possible. 

The blade of his knife traced your jawline and then moved to make short cuts on the flesh on your ribs. You were quietly crying, he even complimented you for your endurance skills.

The door was suddenly opened by the blonde woman who worked for Jerome's brother, Jervis and Crane. Jerome let you go, throwing you to the ground, and put his knife back in his pocket.

"Let's go fellas" he stated while exiting the door, you were still there though, laying on the ground, almost twitching, holding your neck with your hands and inhaling as much as you could, coughing. 

The blood overflowing from the cuts on your skin was staining your clothes and the ground under you, the pain you were feeling was almost unbearable. 

"what do we do with her? Do I have to kill her?" the Scarecrow asked, you heard Jerome's voice coming from outside "pick her up"

Jervis looked at you and wore a pissed expression "what a  _beast"_ he exclaimed, rolling his eyes. 

You were only half conscious, Jervis and Crane were carrying you while following Jerome.

At a crossroad, you found Harvey, Jim and Jeremiah, you could see the three of them "J.. Jim.."you mumbled before Crane let your feet fall on the floor and the Mad hatter carefully put you down, the hypnotised Ecco came to help your companions fight the two policemen too.

" oh God, Jerome.. " Jeremiah whispered seeing you 

" how could you do that to an innocent girl?! "

"well brother.. I could ask you the same" his laughter broke the seriousness of the situation "gotta go, at least appreciate my gift!"

Thanks to Jervis and Crane, they managed to escape.

Jim and Jeremiah rushed towards you while Bullock called an ambulance, the commissioner quickly examined your wounds "cuts, cuts and cuts.. They aren't that deep though.. Bruises on the neck too.."

"am I dead..?" you asked with a whisper "no. No, you're not. And you're not going to die." Jim picked you up and you all went out.

The last thing you remembered before waking up at the hospital was the sound of the ambulance arriving.

 

The white bed was stained in red, like your bandages. You looked around the room, wincing because of the sharp pain due to the cuts on your body and the bruises on your neck. 

A man who looked like Jerome was sitting across the room, right after seeing you moving he came to you, placing his hands on the edges of the mattress

"I'm sorry.." he said "it's all my fault.. I brought my brother's madness to you.. I.."

You blinked a few times before recalling that Jerome had a brother, a twin from what you could see.

"it's not your fault" you smiled "you didn't know what to do. It's okay" you weren't angry at him like you weren't angry at Jerome. You knew what you signed up for.

"oh but, we weren't introduced properly. I'm Jeremiah Valeska, Jerome's brother." his warm smile was very different from Jerome's, there was something weird in him though, something hidden.

"I'm y/n" you said while straightening up "nice to meet you"

The two of you had a nice talk. You found out he was an engineer and was creating a new type of energy. You also found out what kind of kid Jerome was and what he had to endure. 

You sat on the bed and, ignoring the nurse and Jeremiah's warnings, you kept your bandages on and dressed up.

"I have to come back to them." you said "I could.. Find out something new about their plans" you lied. 

"actually.." Jeremiah started "Jerome's on a stage not far from here, where the Gotham Concert is held, he asked for my and Bruce's presence. He's threatening to kill four people there."

".. What? Why didn't you tell me? I have to go!"

"wait!" he grabbed your arm "we have a plan! Don't go"

"I'm sorry." you freed yourself and fled to the place where the Gorham Concert was held. You knew the place very well.

You got nearer to the stage squeezing yourself in the cracks of the crowd and Jerome, who was giving a pretty good show, welcomed you

"no doubts! I knew you were still alive, come up, there's still room for you right here" he solemnly put the hand with the detonator on his heart, blowing off the head of another one of the hostages. You whimpered.

It was probably another stupid idea that of showing up in the fuss of his show. 

Jerome told Firefly to keep her flamethrower pointed at you just to be sure and she did it "you know.." he started, looking at you and the crowd

"this girl stayed with me for a while during my super secret missions." you spotted Jeremiah and Bruce getting closer to him as he spoke

"the last time I met her, yesterday, she was a dying mess, ugh" he winced "you should have seen her. Just because I almost chocked her to death and cut her skin at least ten.." he turned to you "ten?" he questioned 

"sixteen.." you told him "sixteen times!" he repeated "unbelievable." his laughter was as loud as usual.

"oh! Brother, Bruce, welcome!" he let them come up the stage. You heard some shots but couldn't detect where they came from, probably inside the buildings nearby. 

After another speech, you stared first at Bruce that probably recognized you while he was being tied up and then Jeremiah, whose stare was seriously focused on Jerome. 

".. You're as crazy as I am" you heard the smiling man saying while freeing his brother and giving him a knife "give it your best shot!"

Jeremiah got up to stab Jerome, you clenched your teeth as the assaulted one knocked him out with a punch accompanied by a giggle. 

You saw the people being evacuated as the commissioner drew his gun from his belt, he noticed you while you gestured him not to shoot, but he shot Jerome in the shoulder, making him fall with a thud

"Jerome!" you whimpered before putting yourself between Gordon and his target "Stop, Jim, you don't have to do it! It's not necessary to kill him!" your voice was a cry of fear.

You heard steps behind you and Jerome laughing while running off the stage to escape Gordon. 

Caught between two fires, you chose your side and followed Jerome on a rooftop, he climbed on the edge as the commissioner arrived too, aiming his gun at him. 

Jerome called the pilot of the blimp with his cellphone to tell him to release the toxin he ordered Crane to produce. 

After another non lethal shot, you put yourself in the middle of the scene again. 

"move, y/n" Gordon demanded with a firm voice. 

You knew it wouldn't end well when you saw the blimp changing its route, but you were stubborn, and you didn't care if your stubbornness risked to kill you this time. 

"Jim! Don't do it! It's not necessary!" 

"a lot of people would die! Your emotions are covering your eyes! Let me do my job" 

"no! Not this time" you turned your head to look at Jerome who was grinning, as always "you can't kill him." 

Your cheeks became red and your eyes let tears fall down, Gordon was looking at you.

He hoped you were just kidding, that you didn't really care about him, that you were just pretending. 

"you can't.. Because I.. I love him, I never loved anyone like I love him.." 

Jerome laughed, clapping his hands "nice show to witness before death huh? I'd like some pop corns right now.." he mumbled the last part 

"no, y/n. It's just.. Your mind playing tricks, you don't really love him, it's just your need to love someone that's messing with your mind"

You understood Jim's behaviour. He was trying to help you, to make you feel less pain for the upcoming death of the criminal behind you. 

Because he could already have shot Jerome, but he didn't. 

He knew very well the pain of losing someone you cared about. 

"look what he did to you! He almost killed you without regret or guilt, he doesn't care, y/n" 

"I know, but it doesn't matter! Just because you lost the love of your life it doesn't mean that I have to lose mine!" your words streamed out of your mouth like a flood. 

You wanted him to go away, to mind his own business but, after all, Gotham City was his own business. 

You heard the shot passing over your head, turned around to see where he was hit and, with a horrified expression on your face you realised it was his stomach. He fell. 

Without saying anything you rushed to the edge and saw that he was still there, holding on a flagpole. 

You weren't long enough to reach him and take his hand, nor strong enough. But Jim, who was there with you, could do it. 

"what will you do this time, commissioner? Will you be a good lawman and arrest me or.. Simply let me die after all I did to Gotham and its people?" 

You didn't like his usual giggle this time. He was about to die and you weren't happy about it, he shouldn't be happy either. 

Gordon looked at you " please.. "you begged him. 

He sighed in frustration, but he probably would have done the same without you. 

He extended his hand towards the dying man, but he unexpectedly rejected it, you widened your eyes in desperation

" Je-Jerome? What are you doing? What..? Take his hand! Please! " you were crying again, he really was unpredictable. 

"are you sure? You won't survive, it's a long way down" the commissioner commented "I'll be fine." 

You didn't understand his words, you didn't understand his behaviour, your heart was aching as you let your emotions overflow for the first time in a while 

"Don't worry about me, broken puppet." he was looking at you, then at Gordon again "I will survive because.. I'm not a man. I'm an idea."

He chuckled "see you next time!" 

Jerome let his hands slip, falling down the unimaginable cliff of laughter. 

Your arm extended towards him in a useless attempt to bring him back to safety.

Your chest was so devastated that you couldn't even sob, you felt a hand on your back "come on, y/n.." Gordon's voice was compassionate, almost tender. 

Suddenly, a destructive feeling made you sob and your tears took over your orbs. With trembling hands, you tightly hugged the commissioner, who hugged you back lowering his eyes in silence. 

You two then headed down to see his corpse. Bruce was there, along with Jeremiah who didn't get closer to his brother. 

Finally, you left Jim's protective wing and gave a quick glance at the corpse, resuming your crying and sobbing, this time another hand placed on your left shoulder

"he was insane, y/n. He would have killed you sooner or later." Jeremiah's voice sounded like a far away memory. You looked at him with hope, although he wasn't  _him_

He just looked like _him_. 

He gave you a hug too and you involuntary felt like you were hugging the same person. 

You tried to convince your mind that Jeremiah wasn't Jerome. That Jerome was deceased. 

It didn't work, you released all of your emotions on the brother, egotistically hoping that one day he will become like your beloved criminal. 

 


	6. A new Threat

Bullock wanted to bring you to the GCPD for an interrogation about your involvement with Jerome Valeska, but Gordon refused and suggested him to leave you alone at least for a few days. 

Bruce was polite to you too, he probably didn't mind what had happened at the diner and at the concert, it wasn't you who made all the fuss after all. 

"do you need a ride home?" he asked, with genuine concern, you unexpectedly noticed the different shade of feelings that there were between his, Jim's, Jerome's and Jeremiah's. 

Jim used to keep all secret, his expression didn't change that much, while Bruce only showed what he wanted to show. About Jerome.. You still couldn't understand, he was so different from the others, but thinking about him hurt too much. 

You looked at Jeremiah, almost waiting for permission, he nodded and patted your shoulder, then you turned to Bruce "thank you Mr Wayne." 

"No need to be so formal, come" the billionaire gave you a little smile and you smiled back "Goodbye Jeremiah, I hope to see you soon again" you whispered, he didn't answer, but looked somewhat confused. 

"remember, in a week at the GCPD!" Bullock stated, earning a frustrated glance from the commissioner. 

You entered the black and elegant vehicle, Bruce did too, stepping into the driver seat "this car is.. Awesome" your voice wasn't stable yet, he looked at you with a compassionate smile while starting the engine

"it's not a problem if you don't want to have a conversation, I understand, don't force yourself."

"I'm sorry.." you sighed and looked out of the window. 

After a few minutes of high speed, you were home, then realised "how.. do you know where I live?" the troubled expression on your face made him uncomfortable "well I.. Did some research after I met you at the diner. And Gordon told me something too."

"oh.. I see." your sad, forced smile broke your own heart "thank you.. Bruce. I'll return the favour one day"

"it's not a problem.." you nodded and stepped out of the car, shutting the door, then went inside the building after waving at the driver. 

Your apartment was exactly like you left it. You went to the bathroom to examine your physical and mental conditions.

Those cuts and bruises that you were wearing like jewels were now all that remained of your lost love. Of Jerome. 

You touched the bandages on your ribs while pulling up your shirt, you winced for the pain. The bandages had to be changed, but you had no medical kit. 

You let your shirt fall down and looked at your reflection in the mirror. You noticed some kind of slight bruise on your cheek too. Your hand moved by its own and touched it, then your neck. 

Tears ran down your cheeks as you exited the bathroom and wiped them off.

Going towards the kitchen, you noticed a package wrapped like a Christmas gift, your eyes widened.

It was red with green stripes, your fingers moved to the box and unwrapped it with hope.

The kind of hope that made you believe in his survival, even though you saw his corpse.

There was a letter inside the package, signed by Jerome

"if you're reading this letter, it means I'm dead, what a pity, right? I bet you're crying your eyes out! Just don't worry about it. Jeremiah is the new me. He'll be more than happy to have you on his side Ha Ha Ha Ha!"

You noticed another note behind the letter:" oh and come to the graveyard tomorrow. My faithful companions will be so happy to see you." you swallowed, your tears stopped.

Was it all his plan? Dying, gathering his thugs at his grave, having you meet Jeremiah, attending the funeral and then what? 

You shook these thoughts from your head and put the letter in a safe pocket of your jacket. 

You searched the box and found something else. A violet gun. You wondered why he sent you that, but your choice was that of bringing it with you the following day. 

You decided to take your chances and remove the bandages, the cuts were still half open, but the blood wasn't overflowing anymore.

 

The next day came, your aching body barely allowed you to get up and get ready. During the morning you went straight to Jerome's tomb calling a cab, always keeping the gun he gifted you hidden inside a pocket of your jacket.

It didn't matter how much it hurt, you had to understand what was going on. 

Some of the ex inmates of Arkham greeted you, and this allowed you not to end up killed by the others. 

They believed that Jerome wasn't really dead, they were his legacy, weren't they? Those lunatics were his legacy.. 

You looked down at the ground, trying to hold in your tears, but received a call from an unknown number "hello?"

"hello, y/n right? I was wondering if you'd like to come with me" it was a male voice, he scoffed "ahem, I'm Bruce Wayne by the way"

"oh! Br-!?" you suddenly held your breath in since you didn't want the fanatics to hear his name '' I won't ask you how you got my number, anyway.. " you giggled " Where to?" 

"Jeremiah's hideout. I have to help him with a project and I thought you would like to come and see him." your cheeks lightened up

"sure, thank you"

"where are you? I'll pick you up"

"uh... I'm at the.. At the graveyard, I'll wait for you at the entrance " there was a moment of silence before he spoke again "I'm coming." and he hung up.

You looked at the grave for the last time, hoping again with a hopeless stare that somehow he would resurrect, that somehow he would tell you that it was his sick plan, a joke. A big, huge, complete joke. 

You sighed as you quickened your pace to arrive at the gate as soon as possible. 

 

Jeremiah's hideout reminded you of his brother, of course, the only place where you managed to kiss him and have some kind of contact.

"good morning, Bruce, I was waiting for you" Jeremiah said after you and your friend entered the small structure "and y/n! I'm happy to see you too" he layed a hand on your shoulder

"how are you?" you faked a smile "I'm fine.. I'm fine don't worry, Jeremiah"

He stared at you for a few seconds before turning to his papers and starting to explain what he was doing. A kind of battery, from what you could understand, that could give renewable, cheap and effective energy to Gotham.

The subject changed when the generator was finally activated, as Jeremiah took Jerome's diary from a drawer "Bruce, Y/n.. I have to tell you something.."

His voice showed nervousness "I.. Yesterday.. As Jerome's last sick trick, he sprayed me his toxin, he said it was a special one created just for me.. " his body was shaking and you let your mouth fall open at what you just heard

"what?" you asked, almost paralysed "he said I would go crazy.."

"you won't, Jeremiah. You just have to throw away that diary and.. And everything will be okay."

Bruce's cellphone rang, his words didn't work in Jeremiah as hoped. He answered after saying that it was Gordon.

Silence. 

"what?!" you heard him asking "I see.." he swallowed 

"Jerome's fanatics assaulted the GCPD-"

"I knew! I knew it! He's still alive and he's coming for me!" Jeremiah was sweating, he walked up and down the room

"Jeremiah, would you feel better if you saw his grave?" Bruce put his cellphone back into the pocket of his trousers. 

The host stopped fidgeting ".. I don't know. I don't know.. Probably." Bruce gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder "let's go."

"I'm coming too." the billionaire nodded "sure. Jeremiah needs your help too"

 

The three of you quickly advanced through the heavy atmosphere of the foggy graveyard "I can't do it.. Bruce! Bruce I can't do it"

Your eyes shifted from the ground to Jerome's brother, you held in a sigh. No way he was the substitute of Jerome. 

"Jeremiah, I've been here until a few hours ago, it will be fine-" your tone was reassuring and it seemed to have an effect on Jeremiah, until Bruce stopped.

There was a hole on the ground, no coffin, no grave. 

You gasped "they.. The fanatics did it. They were all around-"

"Jeremiah!" you heard Bruce shouting while chasing the other one, you followed them to the cemetery building, but decided not to enter.

You looked around instead, there was apparently nothing suspicious. When you came back from your little trip around the building, you spotted Jeremiah and Bruce near the digged up tomb again.

"what are you doin-" your voice was cut off by the sight of Jerome's body leaning against the tombstone "Je.. Jerome.." you frowned.

The two men looked like they fought against one another "I don't understand.."

"he's paranoic..we have to help him" Bruce commented "No. I'm not paranoic." Jeremiah rubbed his face with a napkin, revealing the true, pale colour of his skin

"Jeremiah.." you whispered "was it..the gas?"

"the gas only had an effect on my appearance. My mind has always been like this"

"insane like your brother?!" Bruce barked "of course not, I'm perfectly sane. It was him the insane one, just him." he clicked his tongue "You see.. If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead."

Your fingers tightened into a fist, a tear wetted your lips. 

"go away, y/n" your friend tried to warn you "he's dangerous. Maybe more dangerous than his brother. Run"

The pressure in your lungs was growing more and more as your mind let thoughts of hope flow throughout you, you were about to snap

"I.."

"she's not going anywhere" the twin harshly interrupted you, then addressed to Bruce "I won't go as extreme as my brother, but rather get things done straight to the point. Jerome wanted to slather you in honey and have you eaten alive by corpse beetles as you can read in his diary. Now.. that's mad. Me, if I wanted to kill you I'd just do it. I'll shoot you in the head. Simply and sanely"

Your eyes widened as you listened to his unfamiliar words "that's complete madness.." Bruce muttered "oh and those generators? They are bombs."

You turned your head to the sudden explosion coming from Jeremiah's bunker, your whole body shivered "looks like.. Jim Gordon is dead"  he stated.

"w-what?" you stuttered as your knees started shaking "that's not possible.." you glanced at your friend, whose mouth was hanging open in disbelief and anger

"I will stop you!" he yelled at the enemy with anger before being knocked out and moved to the hole where Jerome's corpse was previously pushed into.

You looked at the two of them, your breath was unsteady and your heart was beating faster than usual "why?" you asked, unsure.

Your body didn't move as he came towards you until he was only a few inches away "it's time for Gotham to be rebuilt."

You moved your hand to his face, you wished you could touch him, his skin, his body,

Jerome wasn't dead. He lived..inside of his brother.

With a quick movement, he hit you on the head with the gun handle and you couldn't help but faint. 


	7. Destruction

A strong pain took over your abdomen and woke you up from your slumber, your body curled up to defend your already wounded figure, a whine escaped your lips.

Your eyes opened to let you see one of Jeremiah's henchmen who just hit you with the handle of his rifle "up" he ordered.

With your limbs shaking, you got up, helping yourself with a pillar, you then leaned against it "where am I?"

"follow me."

The man started walking towards the stairs and then into a room, the building looked dark, old and neglected. 

You were pushed inside the room where a man in a purple coat was watching some monitors, you heard the sound of the door closing behind your back.

"My brother wrote about you too in his diary." Jeremiah stated, without looking at you, you didn't have the courage to ask what he wrote, but there was no need to.

He glanced at you from over his shoulder before turning around to face you "He wanted to watch you cry, torture you" he took a step forward, lifting your chin up with a hand, since you were looking at the floor in shame

"to rape you" a shiver ran down your spine as you felt pressure on your jawline "and last but not least, to kill you."

Your mind was racing, was he about to kill you? He said he wanted to sanely complete his brother's plans.. Will he shoot you in the head? 

You loved Jerome and wanted to start loving Jeremiah too, but how could you love him from the realm of death? 

"Jeremiah, I can help-" he placed his gloved hand on you mouth "I'm not going to kill you. Not now. But I'm going to use you until I won't find any other use for you."

His hand slid from your mouth to your throat, he held you still as his lips pressed onto yours. They were rather cold, but you enjoyed the brief kiss.

As the man pulled away, you were certain he noticed your blushing cheeks. His hands retreated. 

" I'm certain you will be loyal." he whispered before exiting the room.

You were confused, the thought of him trusting you like that was unusual, almost insane since you were Jim Gordon and Bruce Wayne's friend.

You were left free to wander around the safehouse, there were henchmen everywhere, they seemed disciplined though, very different from Jerome's.

One of Jeremiah's followers ordered you not to go into a certain section of the building and, even though you were curious, you decided to obey. Your desire was not that of angering your new boss after all.

After a hour of walking and asking around, you heard a scream, then another and another. Two voices were screaming, they seemed familiar, but you couldn't properly tell.

You got closer to a door that led to a corridor where one of the screams came from, but a shot from your side of the building made you immediately turn around. 

You ran back to a man who was sitting near a wall to ask him what happened "hey!" you said, placing a hand on his arm. At that moment you noticed that he had a hole in his head. You freaked out for a second and took some steps back, bumping into someone.

A strong grip on your shoulder made you turn around and you saw the Penguin right there, facing you with a satisfied grin. And he wasn't alone. 

You recognised some of them: Barbara Kean, her friend whose name you couldn't remember and a large man, along with some thugs.

Oswald's dagger came to your throat with an unimaginable speed, but he stopped soon enough, it only superficially scratched your skin, you whimpered.

It was Barbara who told him to stop "why the hell should I stop now?! She's just one like the others, let me take my revenge! "

"you idiot! Don't you see that she's not armed and she's not wearing the guards' clothes?" she grunted "take her. She'll be the perfect hostage. The henchman we took won't be enough"

The Penguin scoffed and started dragging you upstairs, always threatening you with his weapon to make sure you weren't going to run away. After a while, Jeremiah and some of his goons appeared before you.

He analyzed the situation, turning his head at you too. "we want another hour to evacuate the city and $50 million" Oswald demanded, hitting you on the back of your knees and making you fall to the ground with a thud.

Jeremiah wasn't pleased. He needed you as you were on his brother's list. "well.. I do not have $50 million at the moment."

"tell the mayor that he can buy an additional hour with that money then!"

The leader didn't think much about it "sure." he picked his phone from his jacket and called. Oswald frowned

"he's more rational than Jerome.." you noticed his expression and commented, but a kick on the side of your ribs, right where your cuts hurt, surprised you and made you wince in pain, falling silent "shut up, whore" 

"can you believe it? They put me on hold!" Jeremiah said "we'll have to solve this some other way.."

He pulled out a bazooka "what.. A-a bazooka !?" Oswald stuttered, one of Jeremiah's henchmen pulled you to their side while the redhead shot the other hostage, then let the weapon fall after the explosion. 

"I changed my mind. I will detonate the bombs when I'm far enough. Now, kill them all"

A shooting began and you decided to flee, following your leader.

He ran up the stairs and so did you, through the emergency exit the two of you were able to reach a car, he sat in the driver seat and you next to him.

 

In about a hour, you arrived at a forest, where you could see some kind of bunker. Jeremiah didn't say a word and just got inside. 

It was big enough to have more than one room, probably a basement too, and to contain some of his men who had just arrived. 

You had to wait outside of the larger room while Jeremiah was speaking. You let your tired bones drop on a chair, but noticed a diary on the table next to you, Jerome's diary. 

You got up with curiosity, checking if Jeremiah was still speaking or not. Your hands grabbed it and turned some pages to reveal sketches and words. 

You skipped to the pages that talked about you "..tearing her body apart, listening to her screams as she convulses.." you muttered under your breath and decided to read some sentences here and there "..choking her while cutting her skin and then stabbing her in the neck.." you gasped "..a deep cut on her neck, fucking her while she gurgles blood and twitches.. "

There was more. Even more. But you couldn't read, your hands were shaking.

You dropped the diary seeing the door of the other room being opened and sealed, then Jeremiah hit a button and all of the people inside turned to ashes, burned by fire.

He looked at you, adjusting his hair and clothes. Without saying a word, he got closer and backhanded you way stronger than his brother did, you fell to the ground, but before realising what was happening, you screamed, finding your left hand stabbed by his knife and a hand on your throat.

He didn't look angry anymore, just serious "I didn't give you the permission to read his diary, did I?"

You shook your head, in tears "I'm sorry.. I'm sorry Jeremiah! I was just curious about what he thought about me and-" his grip tightened, cutting your breath. You tried to push him away, but it was all useless.

Your vision started to get blurry until he removed his hand from your throat and took his knife back, you let out a sob. 

Your eyes followed him while he was going downstairs before gathering all of your strength to put the bandages on your bleeding hand. The blood in your mouth tasted like metal, but you were almost used to it now. 

 The bandages were enough to stop the blood and the painkillers helped you soothe the pain. You looked at the room where Jeremiah's followers were killed and wondered why he did that. Weren't they happy that he destroyed half of Gotham to rebuild it? They were lunatics after all.

You took a step down a set of iron stairs that led to the basement; soon you were able to spot Jeremiah, studying or working on something, his next plan perhaps.

He heard the sound of your feet on the metal and then on the concrete floor. 

"if you keep following me like that you'll get yourself killed" his voice spread in an annoyed expiration. You took a peek at the paper he was analyzing: another project of some sort.

You went to the other side of the table and looked at it, then at Jeremiah. Your lips parted to ask something, but closed right after at the thought that he wouldn't probably like to be disturbed.

Suddenly, Jeremiah took his gun out of his belt and pointed it at someone on the stairs, you looked at the same direction and noticed a man that you never saw or even detected before.

It looked like he was able to appear and disappear, like a magic trick.

Your muscles stiffened when you felt a hand on the back of your neck "I didn't know you were the kind of man to keep pets around"

Jeremiah's gun was still pointed at the guest's head "now.. Can you excuse us? We need to talk." you received a little push towards the stairs and, looking back twice to see if Jeremiah would be alright, you exited the room.


	8. Broken puppet

Curiosity was fighting against your survival instinct, since you were back in the room where Jerome's diary was. If Jeremiah discovered you with your fingers playing with those scribbled pages, he would kill you on the spot.

You crossed your arms and fidgeted for almost two hours. The sun had already disappeared at the horizon when your leader came back from his talk with the mysterious man.

"what-"

"we're going to visit Bruce Wayne. Come." he put his purple hat and coat on and exited the bunker with you following him like a lost puppy.

During the travel by car, you didn't feel like being silent and, since he couldn't theoretically hit you while driving, you took your chances.

Your eyes shifted from the street in front of you to his face, you swallowed "..why are we going to Bruce?" a feeble voice ripped the veil of silence.

"You'll soon find out."

"how do you know that I won't betray you and go on Bruce's side?" you wanted to hit you in the head because of what you just asked, you were giving him one more reason to kill you.

"If you have a death wish I can make it come true"

"n-no, sorry.. I don't know why I asked that.." you nervously adjusted in your seat, than inhaled before speaking again "is it true that Jerome used to torture you as a child?" 

"shut your mouth." 

 

The gate was closed, he parked his car quite close to it. Your hand hurt, but you had to use it if you wanted to get in with Jeremiah, you clenched your teeth and followed him without complaining. 

He then walked to a certain open window " why that one? "you whispered, but he didn't answer.

While holding his gun, he entered first, you heard some voices and when you were about to enter the room too, you saw a bullet going through Selina, the girl who wanted to shoot Jerome at the diner.

"why.." you didn't have time to ask anything, Bruce was trying to help the injured girl while the butler arrived and knocked the intruder down.

You stayed there, close to the window, paralyzed, why did he take you with him? He certainly knew what would have happened. 

"what are you doing here? You don't look like one of that madman's thugs." Alfred asked with a husky voice "leave her, Alfred, she's a friend!" Bruce ordered while comforting Selina.

 

Soon the ambulance and the police arrived. You didn't know what happened to Jeremiah or Selina and Bruce since you were taken to the GCPD right away and dragged into the interrogation room.

You were tired, your head lowered onto the table and your hands hung down your knees. You probably fell asleep for a few hours. 

When you felt the door opening and closing, you straightened up, you blinked a few times to wake you up "Jim Gordon?" you asked quite confused, he nodded and sat down before you.

" I'm sorry I had to have you arrested, but.." he sighed, placing his elbows on the black surface "you were with Jeremiah.."

You swallowed hard, he wore a compassionate expression and tone of voice "listen.. I know you miss Jerome. But this one is not him. He's not a substitute"

"I really like Jeremiah, I know he's not Jerome, but it's okay.. It's okay." your lips pressed together

".. But Jim.. You're alive! I thought you were dead! I'm happy to see you're safe, really" you gave him your best smile, changing the subject, but he cut you off. 

"I noticed the cut on your hand. Do you need painkillers?"

"Commissioner, I don't think that's the point.."

"you have bruises on your neck, your cheek and it looks like your old cuts reopened. Did Jeremiah beat you?"

You didn't answer and looked down at your hands ".. Where is he?" you asked. Jim leaned back on his seat "he's in a cell. I don't think it would be good for you to meet him now.." his expression was unreadable. 

"why not?" the commissioner gave you a frustrated glance and got up "we'll talk again later. I have bombs to find right now." he came over to your side and helped you get up.

You ended up in the cell next to Jeremiah, with two other inmates inside simply because Jim didn't want you to stay in the same cell as  _him._

"Jeremiah, are you okay?" you asked him through the bars, he looked at you and you noticed the bruise on his face, caused by the butler's punch "I've never been better." a slight smirk appeared on his lips. 

Some men arrived to take him to the interrogation room and soon after Jeremiah disappeared behind the doors of that room, Bruce surpassed your cell. 

"Bruce?" you asked more to yourself than to him, but he answered "y/n, I'm sorry they arrested you" he got closer, putting his hands on the bars 

"is the girl alright? I hope she is.." your concern made him sympathise with you even more, he changed the subject, evidently he didn't want to talk about it "tell me, honestly.." he closed his eyes for a second while inhaling deeply

"did you know about Jeremiah's plan?" 

Your body shivered "no.. No I didn't know. He didn't tell me anything." 

"good." he nodded, then patted your fingers wrapped around another one of the cell's bars "I have to go, but please.. Don't get involved with that man anymore. Or I will consider you an enemy" 

You looked down, hearing his steps towards the same room Jeremiah was in. 

 After a few minutes, your cell unlocked by itself. You suspiciously and gently pushed it open, nobody was paying attention and you were certain that nobody touched the lock of your cell.

However, you went to the interrogation room almost running, without any hesitation. 

Inside of it, you found no more Bruce, no more Jeremiah, just a shadow. The same man you saw at the bunker. 

"how predictable you are, clown's pet"

You felt a cold shiver running down your spine, you couldn't see him, the room was dark and your vision was blurry. 

On instinct, you turned around to the door, but it wasn't there anymore, you gasped. 

"w-what's happening? Who are you?" you stuttered, trying to find at least a wall in the darkness, but failing

"who am I? Just a shadow, perhaps" you felt cold air grazing your skin, then two hands took a hold of your shoulders, you decided not to move.

"where am I? Where's the interrogation room?"

"We are not at the police station anymore, my dear. But don't worry. You'll soon be free." his voice was echoing in the room and, even though you felt his grip on you, you couldn't locate the source of his voice.

"you are so simple, so influenced by Jeremiah.. Yet you're so different from him. Remember.." his hands moved to your back "you must decide what side you're on."

The mysterious man pushed you out of the darkness and you fell on a smooth surface, a floor. 

You looked at your right and saw Jeremiah looking out of a big window, you were probably on a skyscraper or something similar. 

You got up whispering his name and he turned to you.. Or that's what you thought. He was looking at Bruce who stood on your left instead. 

At a few feets from Jeremiah, there was the man of the bunker, the shadow. He was wearing green, elegant clothes, like he was going to attend a party or a celebration of some kind. 

Your limbs became weak all of a sudden, you crawled to Jeremiah, who didn't even look at you. 

You managed to get up and noticed that you missed an important part of their speech. Your trembling hand reached your leader's forearm. It was just a movement without any meaning if not that of looking for stability, and maybe.. A bit of contact. 

You got a backhand that made you fall back on the floor instead "ouch.." you whined. Bruce stopped talking to look at you, but he didn't move "there was no need to do that!" he was clearly talking to Jeremiah. 

"that's none of your business." he answered with a cold voice. You felt your face warming up and decided to touch it, then looked at your fingers and saw some blood. 

Your eyes rolled back in response "again.." the left side of your mouth was tainted with the red liquid, while your left cheek was almost burning. 

You didn't allow yourself to cry this time though. 

Hands on the floor, you tried to get up "stay down if you don't want to get hit again." Jeremiah warned you and you simply sat down, obeying his order. 

His eyes shifted from Bruce to you before coming back to the target "broken puppet" he mumbled. 

A cold breeze flowed throughout your body "broken puppet?" you whispered to yourself. Was he influenced by Jerome's diary or did he choose to call you like that at the moment? You couldn't hide a half smile and your sparkling eyes until a few unwanted guests appeared in the back of the building, coming towards you. 

Barbara held an old knife in hand, Tabitha, Alfred and Penguin were accompanying her. Oswald stared at you with anger for quite some time. You wondered if he'll ever stop hating you for that stupid mistake you did back at Arkham. 

Before you could realize what was happening and the purpose of the reunion, you saw Barbara engaging in a fight with the mysterious man, later on even Bruce joined, forced by the woman to stab him in the chest, together they killed the man. 

His last words were about Bruce, he shall become the dark knight of Gotham. You didn't really understand what it meant. 

"well.." Jeremiah sighed "time for me to disappear." a loud noise echoed in the night, through the earth. Everyone, except for Jeremiah, looked out of the window to see what was happening: the bridges connecting Gotham were blown up. 

"that's where you put the bombs.." you whispered in awe and horror, moving your head to look at the ginger.

He grabbed you by the back of your collar and pointed a gun at your head, the same old method to get away from the scene. The two of you managed to escape, mainly because the others were more focused on how to deal with the situation. 

 

Back at the bunker, Jeremiah looked happy, or at least, content. "Ra's Al Ghul is out of the way too, now" he mumbled to himself while taking off his hat and coat. 

"Ra's Al Ghul?" you asked, but no answer was given. You assumed he was talking about the shadow and decided to take advantage of the strangely peaceful atmosphere "Jeremiah, can I ask you something?" you showed the last thing you wanted to show him: insecurity. 

His piercing eyes ate you alive without any kind of pity "what is it?" he was now facing you, one of the rare times he actually looked interested. 

"Why did you call me broken puppet? Jerome called me like that too.." he took a threatening step towards you, slightly tilting his head to the side "it's not that hard to figure out" 

His hand reached for your collarbones and neck, his thumb gently grazed the skin of your jaw, you didn't feel calm though. Being in his presence always made you enter the fight or flight mode, and you knew very well that none of the two options was possible. 

"you're broken, since you keep following what you shouldn't, you're addicted to the emotions I make you feel, painful emotions and sensations. You're a puppet because I can easily manipulate you and you're completely sired to me" his voice was calm and steady, as if he was simply stating an obvious fact

"but.. I.." he took a hold of your throat "if I were to bring you to the doorway of death right now, cutting air out of your lungs.." the grip tightened, making you whimper and tremble in pain, you put your fingers around his wrist in a desperate attempt to free yourself. 

"and then, if I released you after all that gargling and suffering you would be going through.." you couldn't breathe, your neck hurt so much that you didn't even know why you were still conscious 

"you'd come back to me. Always. Because that's what drives you. Pain and sorrow, you're attracted to them." he let out a low chuckle as he pushed you against the wall, releasing you from his deadly choke hold. 

You slid from the wall to the ground, initially coughing and then heavily breathing in and out, a hand kept you up from the floor, the other one was on your throat, trying to do something about your lack of air and pain. 

Jeremiah was looking at you without any particular expression on his face, he sighed "you're pathetic." he was about to walk away, but you called him with a feeble voice leaving your mouth, probably not the best idea.

"can you.. Can you give me a kiss?" you knew it wasn't the right time to ask him for a kiss, to ask him for anything in general. It was hard to understand if he and his brother had a sexual drive at all, jokes about sex didn't count. 

You wanted him so badly, but it wasn't possible. You couldn't even try to get his hands on you, or.. Could you? 

He got closer after a moment of apparent hesitation, he was thinking about it perhaps. He painfully grabbed you by your arm to make you stand up again. 

Your shoulders were pressed against the wall while his lips brushed against yours, doing nothing else. 

Your whole body trembled with desire and you pressed your mouth against his. Jeremiah wasn't moving, you assumed it meant that you could do whatever you wanted to.  

A hand pressed against his chest and started unbuttoning him with the help of the other one, you reached for his trousers and pressed your fingers against the bulge beneath them. 

As a response, he made you look at him, keeping your chin up with two fingers "you won't get that from me" his hips pressed against yours, making you bite your lower lip "please, Jeremiah, Please I just.. I just need it so much..please" 

You begged him until you felt pain on the side of your ribs. Jeremiah was pressing on your cuts with strength from under your shirt, you whimpered and tried to push him away "w-wait! It hurts! It hurts-" 

You felt blood dripping from your wounds and his fingers entering the cuts "Jeremiah!" you pleaded, crying like a baby "I'm sure you still want my dick, don't you? Of course. You'll always do." 

Blood was staining your clothes as your mind got dizzy, he removed his hand from there and looked at his fingers, covered in blood, you panted. 

"this.. T-this is not very sane.. It reminds me of Jerom-" you earned yourself a slap on the face that made you drop to the ground, moaning in pain, both because of the reopened cuts and the hit you just received. 

He looked at you "it is sane. I wanted to torture you to prove my point, and I'm doing it. My brother would have played with you more, even more, before starting with the actual torture" while talking, he cleaned up his fingers with a napkin before getting rid of it. 

You spit some blood on the floor and tried to get on your feet again, but you couldn't and fell again, giving up "you could do better than that, Jeremiah, I know.." your decision to tease him wasn't probably the best, but you didn't want to be left alone again. You needed him, it didn't matter if he harmed you or not. 

"of course I could, broken puppet, of course. But I'd rather keep you alive for now." 

 "why? Jerome wanted to kill me, am I right? He wanted to.. Torture, rape and kill me, why aren't you doing that? I'm just feeling the torture here.." your shaking body didn't agree with your words, it didn't want to get damaged again. 

Jeremiah made you turn to face him by moving you with his feet, you saw him pulling out a knife from a pocket 

"watch your mouth, girl" he ordered you to get up, but you couldn't do that, your strength wasn't enough, so he roughly dragged you to a chair and made you sit down. 

The ginger was now behind you, caressing the skin of your neck with the blade, you couldn't hide a smirk "you have a lot of characteristics in common with Jerome.." you muttered under your breath. 

His left hand grabbed you by the hair and pulled your head back, you whimpered "do I?" 

"Y-Yes.. Uh... I didn't want to offend you, but you're playing with me right now, aren't you? Jerome used to play with his victims too.." 

"I'm not like my brother. I don't play with a prey. And this, dear, is simply part of the torture." your head was now pushed forward, you felt your shirt being torn apart by the knife, your back was exposed. 

 

 


	9. Fun or duty?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically.. torture.

The fresh air of the bunker brushed against your exposed skin, a cold shiver ran down your spine as your trembling body was pushed forward by the hand on the back of your head, the cold blade of Jeremiah's knife slightly pressed against your spine, you were scared, almost scared to death, you knew what he was capable of. 

He started cutting a horizontal line from shoulder to shoulder, right under the end of your neck, tears silently fell down your eyes to your cheeks and chin, moans of pain escaped your mouth.

Jerome had never treated you like that, except for a few times, was it because he didn't have much time to waste with you? You didn't even know he had a diary, after all.. 

When he was done with the first cut, you were a sobbing mess, the feeling of blood dripping from the wound made you shiver relentlessly "Jeremiah.. There's.. There's no need to do that, It hurts, please.." 

Your pleas didn't have any effect on him, he simply took a step to the side to observe your crying face before coming back behind you and starting to trace the other cut, a vertical one with a turn to the left at the end. 

Your nails digged into your palms and your legs were hurting from the pressure you were putting on them, with the hope that, maybe, harming yourself in other places would soothe the pain on your back. 

When he finished with that cut too, you suddenly felt the back of the blade pressing against your jugular, your hands were shivering, you didn't know how to save yourself this time, your life was in the palm of his hand, and it was a very dangerous place to put it. 

"it's a shame I can't kill you yet" 

You felt his presence moving away from you and turning to the white table, it made you feel relieved somehow. You didn't even have the strength to look at him though, you were petrified, panting. 

You could hear objects causing noises while falling to the ground and had no idea of what was happening until his hand harshly grabbed you by your arm, lifting you up, and slammed your back onto the table, making you desperately whine because of the hit on your fresh and bleeding wounds. 

Your chest was naked since he had previously cut both your shirt and your bra to better torture your suffering back. 

He stood between your open legs while checking something on Jerome's diary, then closed it and dropped it to the ground "i-if you wanted to rape me.. You could have done it before.." you whispered with the voice left in your throat 

"Before? You wanted it. Now? You don't since you know it'll hurt your back in a destructive manner. The first one is sex, the second one is rape."

Your tears had dried up, but you knew the pain will be unbearable and that you'll cry again. He removed your trousers and cut your underwear before releasing his hard member from the tissue of his pants, you wondered how wicked he was to enjoy harming people that much. 

He said he was torturing you because he had to, but he wouldn't be that much excited if he wasn't enjoying it, you assumed. 

Without any warning, he roughly entered you, the only sound that could be heard was that of your sobbing that you just resumed. 

Blood was staining the table, the friction caused by Jeremiah's movements on the surface opened the wounds even more. 

The ginger was thrusting inside of you with strength, trying to hurt you as much as possible. His left hand was on your throat, the other one, with the knife, was tracing the side of your ribs creating a thin cut that didn't hurt at all compared to the cuts on your back. 

You were restlessly moaning in pain, but also because of the pleasure of finally having him inside of you. An unexpected scream left your mouth when he made a deeper cut on your right side, where your last ribs were, just to put two fingers inside of it and press without any pity. 

Between a moan and a sob, you tried to push his fingers away from your bleeding cut, but he only inserted them more, making your eyes widen and your whole body convulse.

"you're killing me.." you managed to say while crying "Jeremiah.. I'm.. I can't.." another thrust made your back harshly brush against the table, blood dripping from it and the numerous injuries you carried on your body. 

His hand tightly squeezed your throat, choking you, he analyzed your reactions with his piercing gaze. 

You finally ceased to move except for the unwanted convulsions, your arms fell to the sides of your body, you stopped resisting to the imminent death, air didn't flow through your lungs anymore and the pain you were feeling was driving you crazy. 

Suddenly, a strong impulse ran throughout your body, starting from in-between your legs, his full length was inside of you and your back arched as his grip on your neck was less strict. A moan escaped your weak lips while the feeling of his sperm invading your abdomen made you apply pressure against his crotch to have more. 

You fainted right after, feeling your forces leaving your bleeding body. 

 

With a gasp and a sudden convulsion, your figure tensed up so that you were now sitting on the table, like you just woke up from a nightmare. You whined at the pain of your wounds and the still open cuts on your back.

You shook your head, since your vision was too blurry and you felt dizzy "I am still alive.." you swallowed hard before putting your feet on the ground and shifting your weight on them, but falling.

Your muscles hurt, you lacked the energy to move freely. You decided to examine your still naked body.

Jerome's cuts on your ribs were closed, but they were threatening to open at any moment, the other cut made by Jeremiah, the one he inserted so deeply his fingers in, was still bleeding and you trembled at the thought of what he did. 

Your back, at this point, was the most bearable injury of them, along with the neck. It hurt too, but only when you touched it or moved your head. 

The once white table was a scarlett red, and some stains of blood were scattered around the place.

The desk on the other side of the room, had clean clothes on it, but you couldn't reach them. You needed to take a shower, to rest properly and relax, but Jeremiah wasn't going to help you you supposed. 

You heard steps coming from the basement of the bunker, soon you were able to see his shoes and ankles coming towards you

"ah. You're awake" he calmly stated. 

You inhaled deeply "can I take a shower.? I.. I'm not in a very good shape.." 

"yes. You can take a shower." he pointed at the door on the left before leaning against the wall next to it. 

"can you give me a hand?" you managed to get on your knees, he just kept staring at you with his arms crossed over his chest, waiting for you to get a move on. 

Trembling and leaning against the wall, you managed to get up, but felt a dense liquid dripping down your inner thighs, you looked down, hoping it wasn't blood and pressed your lips together when you noticed it was sperm.

Jeremiah's stare was making you feel uncomfortable, you slowly moved towards the bathroom. Once you reached the door and grabbed the door handle, he went away, back in his basement.

You sighed in relief, your heart was pounding almost out of your chest for the fear of adding another wound to your collection. 

The moment you stepped into the shower and the warm water covered your wounded skin, you let all that fear of being injured behind you, knowing that next time he would probably just kill you. 


End file.
